Chapter 10: She Will Wake Up: She Has To

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad you guys liked it!

Lucas, Brooke, and James were finishing up their food and having a fun time, though Brooke and Lucas still had Haley in their heads, hoping she'll wake up soon. Lucas looked at Brooke to see her mood. She was getting quieter by the moment. She was staring blankly into her food, not touching it. Lucas decided to say something.

"Hey Brooke, you okay?" Lucas asked. Brooke popped her head up and looked at Lucas.

"Um yea. I'm fine," Brooke answered. James was still playing with his toy that he got from his Happy Meal.

"You look a little out of space. You sure?" Lucas tried to get Brooke let out what she was feeling or thinking. Brooke smiled at his consideration but shook it off.

"Yea, I'm sure. Don't worry. I'm fine," Brooke said, trying to get Lucas to forget about it.

"Hey mom, I'm done eating and I'm bored now," James said, putting his toy down. 'Finally! Off the subject!' Brooke thought. Brooke got up and started to gather up hers and James' garbage. Lucas looked at her curiously but stood up and started to gather his garbage as well.

"Come on James," Brooke said going to the garbage can. James and Lucas followed. Lucas threw out his trash then looked at Brooke again who was getting James' hand to hold.

"Brooke, are you sure you're okay? You barely even ate your food. You just talked and looked like you were pretending to be happy," Lucas again tried to get Brooke to let what she was thinking out. Brooke sighed and turned to face Lucas.

"Look, I'm not just about to forget about Haley just because I can finally see you and James look like real father and son. I wasn't really hungry. I mean I was but then I wasn't. Ugh, I just didn't feel like eating all of the sudden. I'm fine okay Lucas? Don't worry about me; I'm going to be fine right? I mean everyone's saying it. It's all going to be fine. Right?" Brooke asked. Lucas looked at Brooke.

"Right. It is gonna be fine," Lucas said. He didn't know what else to say.

"Okay then," Brooke said. She turned around and started to walk back to Haley's room. Lucas followed a few seconds later. When they got there, they saw that everyone had gone somewhere else except for Nathan, who was sitting down on a chair next to Haley.

"Mommy! I need to go to the bathroom!" James said, tugging Brooke's hand. Brooke looked down at James then to Lucas.

"I'll take him," Lucas said take James by the arm. Brooke smiled to Lucas as a 'thank you' sign and went towards Nathan while Lucas and James turned around and walked to the bathroom. Brooke stood next to Nathan.

"You miss her don't you?" Nathan asked, looking at Haley still.

"A lot. Which is weird because," Brooke chuckled, "well she's right in front of me."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Nathan said. Brooke walked closer to the bed and bent down. She took Haley's hand and held it.

"Come back, Hales," Brooke said, silently wishing she would.

"She has to, doesn't she?" Nathan asked, silently wishing too that she would.

"Why do you say? I mean I want her to as much as you do but why does she have to?" Brooke asked confused.

"I mean think about it. She can't just let her whole life float away like this. She's got more to come ahead of her," Nathan said but was cut off.

"Like that damn tree?" Brooke said. Nathan ignored her and continued.

"She has Kayla, you, Peyton, Lucas. Me," Nathan said.

"Oh. Yea. I can see why you think that," Brooke said. She didn't have anything to say.

"Yeah," Nathan said. They sat there quietly just hoping for her to wake up.

Author's Note: I know this chapter is short but I thought I should just stop here because I've made my point for this chapter. Okay, well tell me what you think!